Let’s hear it for the pigs

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First they were blamed for the swine flu that caused a worldwide stir after it was discovered in Mexico — and now everyone’s likening them to Members of Parliament with their snouts in the trough.

But look at the facts. The genetic make-up of the virus may have been predominantly porcine but the pigs themselves didn’t have it. Even at the supposed epicentre of the outbreak in Mexico they showed no symptoms — things reached such a state that owners of some pig farms in the US were stopping humans coming near them in case they infected their animals. The pigs were innocent OK?

And yet the name “swine flu” stuck, lots of people stopped eating pork and in Egypt they were even culled.

Now this. The image changes from dirty to greedy as all the cartoonists portray our expenses-hungry MPs as curly-tailed pinstriped pigs, shedding wads of notes from their pockets as they pile into the trough.

As the fashion of the moment seems to be saying “sorry” for everything, perhaps we should offer our apologies to the pigs — what about a statue of a Gloucestershire Old Spot on the vacant plinth in Trafalgar Square?

“I was entitled to claim for a £2000 40″ TV. I followed the rules in the Green Book. I’ve done nothing wrong”.

Says everything about the Labour philosophy. It used to be called “the politics of greed and envy”. Now it’s just greed. The way these characters have padded their pockets and their pensions at taxpayers’ expense they don’t need to envy anybody.

A bit of pig sticking in Westminster would be a good thing. Roll on the election.